


Rainfall

by AstridsAntics (Castielwinchestar)



Series: 7 Phone Numbers and the Losers Behind Them [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: ALL THE GAY, Asexual Character, College!AU, Cussing, Fluff, Gay Keith (Voltron), I'm trying my best here, Lance (Voltron) Has ADHD, Pansexual Character, SO MUCH FLUFF, Space Dad, Underage Drinking, Voltron, aye one guy almost dies, basically crack, cut me some slack guys, dont judge, gays, group chats, hospital!AU, how bout that, i wrote chapter 1 in an hour, keith is an emo fuck, keith is gay, keith kogane - Freeform, klance, lance is a little shit, lance mcclain - Freeform, let me naruto run into your heart, non binary character, non binary pidge, team voltron - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-23
Updated: 2016-08-23
Packaged: 2018-08-10 13:11:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7846354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Castielwinchestar/pseuds/AstridsAntics
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's always been "Lance and Keith, neck and neck." Stupid arguments, bitter eye-rolls, and mutual annoyance made up a solid rivalry between two classmates. But when Lance is taken out of the picture (aka falls into a coma), Keith is left alone, sans the banter that had become an expected constant in his life. Keith struggles with his guilt and a growing affection for someone he can't even have a conversation with. Will he be able to keep his emotions at bay long enough for Lance to wake up? And will he be able to convince Lance, his self-proclaimed rival, to fall in love with him? (If he doesn't die, that is) (he doesn't die)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rainfall

**Author's Note:**

> hey guys!! If you're reading this because you've read my other story, Team Voltron: a group chat, which you can find at http://archiveofourown.org/works/7644637/chapters/17403988 then welcome back! If you're reading this because you randomly discovered it in the tags or whatever, then welcome aboard! I recommend that you read the group chat fic first, but it's not really important to the story. It's just an entertaining read :D Please leave kudos and comments if you enjoy this!

            Lance was going to kill Keith. For suggesting that they hang out more, for asking him if he wanted to meet up to study for their test tomorrow, for existing in general.

            He was also going to kill himself for agreeing with that mullet-haired menace, and saying yes to an impromptu study session in the middle of rush hour. And for not taking Keith up on his offer to study at Lance’s (and Pidge’s and Hunk’s) apartment, because now, here he was, stuck in afternoon traffic with an attitude uglier than the mustard-coloured Nissan in front of him. Lance let out a sigh, utterly done with the entire situation, and pulled his car into the turning lane at the GPS’s command.

            Traffic had started to let up, which allowed Lance to drive more normally than the bumpy stop-starting he had had to endure for the last twenty minutes, a silver lining to his day. His stomach grumbled, voicing the fact that Lance hadn’t eaten _anything_ since the sandwich he scarfed down that morning. He patted his abdomen and hoped that Keith would have food at his place.

            Lance continued to shuffle along, only hitting a couple more red-lights before he reached the second to last intersection prior to Keith’s apartment complex. His phone buzzed in the passenger seat and Lance glanced down at the brightly-lit screen.

 

            **Keith Kogane:** where r u? I bought study-snacks J

 

            Lance reached over to pick up the phone, not noticing that the light had turned red. He typed out a reply, then deemed it stupid and deleted the text. The car continued to cruise through the intersection, Lance oblivious to the sounds of squealing tires and desperately pressed car horns. He typed out a quick “omw” and finally looked up from his phone, but it was too late. Lance watched as the truck owner pulled the emergency brake in a last-ditch effort to avoid collision, but to no avail. It was like time had slowed down, and had Lance not been paralyzed by the image of a big ass truck barreling straight for him, he would have been able to avoid getting hit. Sadly enough, Lance was a statue, and could do nothing but watch as the events unfolded in slow-motion. He couldn’t even scream.

            Metal collided with metal, windshields were shattered, airbags went off. Lance could feel his body crumbling in on itself, could hear his skin tearing, his bones breaking. His vision began to blur, and still no sounds left his mouth. Lance knew what was happening, understood that there was a high probability that he wouldn’t survive this. He felt dissociated from the moment, though, as if he wasn’t the one about to die. His body was already going numb, his thoughts turning to mush. Black spots took over the world and he was trembling with a ferocity he didn’t even know possible. The teenager struggled to fight sleep, did his best to keep his blue eyes open. Lance focused on the ringing in his ears, on the warmth of the blood dripping down his jaw.

            His last thought before unconsciousness took him was of none other than an impromptu study session, and “ _what about Keith?_ ”

He hadn’t gotten the chance to hit send.

 

-

 

            His text had been sent, received, and read almost an hour ago, now. Keith kept looking at the three “pending” dots on his screen, and irritation began to morph into anger. Lance should’ve been here already. Way already. He groaned in exasperation, plopping himself down on the couch and snatching the remote off his coffee table. Whatever. Lance can study by himself. It wasn’t like Keith had actually wanted to hang out with the jerk, anyways, but Shiro had suggested that they try harder to become friends. Guess Lance didn’t get the memo that it takes two to make a friendship work, asshole.

            He switched on the news, hoping for something interesting. They were recapping the day’s traffic, and Keith was definitely not expecting to see the street before his neighborhood, blocked off by what looked to be a pretty horrible car accident. The camera switched to a policewoman going through the wreck, and Keith watched her gasp and yank open the passenger door to a familiar-looking (yet utterly totaled) vehicle. He sat there, trying to place how _the hell_ he knew that car, a bad feeling settling in his gut.

            The bad feeling turned into a worse feeling as the camera showed the policewoman running around to the other side of the car and dragging out the body of a teenage boy. Keith recognized that mop of brown hair, even matted with blood and sprinkled with glass. He recognized those cut up arms, the tan skin that was turning a mottled yellow colour from bruises that were definitely formed on impact. They finally showed the boy’s face as they got him onto a stretcher, doctors checking for any sign of life; a pulse, a breath, a flutter of his eyes, anything would do. Keith didn’t wait around long enough to see if he was alive. He threw his boots on, grabbed his keys and ran out the door faster than he’d run in a long, long while. Because he _knew_ that face. The curve of that nose, those perfectly crested eyebrows. Keith _knew_ that jawline, had studied it whenever his friend wasn’t looking. And he’d be damned if he let Lance McClain die because Keith had invited him over to study. At _Shiro’s_ prompting, of all things.

            This was his fault, and he was going to fix it.

            And really, it wasn’t until he had sped down to the closest hospital, flung open the doors and borderline harassed the poor man at the front desk about Lance (before getting sent away to the waiting area), that he realized there was no way to fix this.

            Lance was in emergency care. Keith wasn’t stupid, he knew what that meant. He’d seen how Lance had looked when he was being dragged out of his car. The hospital’s waiting room suddenly felt too quiet, too morose. The air around Keith was turning stale, and somehow the teenager found himself with his head between his knees, calloused fingers digging into his scalp. Sure, the guy was always pushing buttons Keith didn’t even know he _had_ , but he was Lance. He broke the awkward silences with terrible puns, he aced every quiz and always raised his hand in class. He looked sad when he thought that the group wasn’t paying any attention to him, laughed it off as soon as Keith tried to say something about it. Lance had all-too easily become another part of Keith’s day, along with the rest of Team Voltron.

            He was a constant in Keith’s life, something Keith hadn’t known until he met Shiro his freshman year of high school. Lance couldn’t just… Die, on him. Could he? His fingers pressed harder into his hair, tugging at the roots. What if he never got to hear Lance laugh at one of his own jokes again? What if he never got to see Lance’s bluest-blue eyes crinkle with a smile ever again? What if Lance was already dead, in that uncomfortable emergency-room cot, and the doctors were going to come out any second now to tell Keith the news? To tell Keith, “It’s all your fault, you know. If you hadn’t invited him over, hadn’t sent that text, Lance would still be with us. How are you going to live with that?”

            Somebody draped a shock blanket over his back, and Keith shot up with a gasp. He knew what he was doing. He was spiraling himself into an anxiety attack, and that is not what was going to help Lance right now. He looked around the waiting room, trying to clear his tunnel vision while simultaneously looking for the kind soul that had given him a blanket.

            Keith came face to face with the man from the front desk, a tired smile plastered on his face.

            “You okay there?”

            “I- uh, yeah. Thanks.” Keith did his best to give the man a smile, tried to turn his lips up, but they wouldn’t go, and the man patted his shoulder solemnly.

            “You’re here for that Lance fellow, yeah? The poor kid who got into that car accident?”

            At his words, Keith’s stomach did Olympic-style summersaults. The tunnel-vision began to return, anxiety worked its way back up his throat. His hands were shaking as he stood up to look the hospital volunteer in the eyes. “Is he okay?! Is Lance gonna make it? Did something go wrong with the procedure? _Oh my god is he dead?_ ” Keith’s words started to blur together and he continued rambling until the man firmly placed his hands over Keith’s mouth.

            “Buddy, calm down. Your friend’s gonna be okay. So chill out, will you? You’re freaking people out.” Keith glanced around at the other people in the waiting room, noticing more than a few moms giving him worried looks. He let the volunteer guide him back into his seat, embarrassment momentarily forcing the anxiety to the back of his mind. His hands were still shaking, hell, _Keith_ was still shaking, but Lance was going to be okay. That was all that mattered. “They just called. The procedure is going perfectly, and they should be done and have him all patched up in just a few hours. Lance is going to be A-Okay, but I need you to calm down and stop working yourself up over it. Can you do that for me?”

            Keith nodded his head. “Yeah, I think I’ll manage. Thank you for everything, really.” He tucked the blanket more tightly around his body, realizing that he left his jacket at home and _wow_ , it was _freezing_ in this hospital.

            The man turned to walk away, but Keith managed to choke out a “Wait! What’s your name?” before he could get too far.

            “The name’s Ulaz. And you should probably text your friends and tell them that Lance is okay. I’m sure they saw the news and are worried sick.”

            Keith watched as Ulaz returned to the front desk, temporarily blanking out.

            His friends.

            They don’t know what happened.

            Oh. Well, shit.

            Keith reached into the pocket of his dark-blue skinny jeans, thanking every higher power out there that he had remembered to grab his phone before barreling down to the hospital. He opened his most recent Team Voltron group chat, and started typing.

 

            **Group Chat >> Lance died and is vexing me from Hell **

**Keith Kogane >> Shiro, Allura, Coran, Pidge Gundo, Hunk**

 

 **Keith Kogane:** so

            **Keith Kogane:** you guys seen the news recently?

            **Allura:** YES WE WERE ALL WATCHING IT IS LANCE OKAY WHERE IS HE WHERE ARE YOU

 **Shiro:** ARE YOU OKAY WHAT HAPPENED OH MY GOD

            **Pidge Gundo:** K E I TH YOU ASSHOLE WHERE HAVE YOU B E E N

            **Keith Kogane:** yeah sorry im fine, im at the hospital waiting for Lance

 **Keith Kogane:** they just told me that he’s gonna be okay

 **Hunk:** oh my god keith we were so worried

            **Coran:** and none of us wanted to text you because we didn’t know if you were driving or not and we didn’t want to cause another accident I’m so glad that you’re okay holy s h i t

 **Keith Kogane:** why didn’t u guys come to the hospital?????

 **Shiro:** the roads were blocked off because of the crash, we wouldn’t have been able to get there until way later and so we decided to just try our luck tomorrow

            **Keith Kogane:** oh okay

            **Keith Kogane:** but I really am so sorry I may have been having an anxiety attack in the waiting room so that’s why I didn’t text u guys earlier.. ://

            **Pidge Gundo:** it’s fine we were just really worried ;-;

 **Allura:** Keith the crash happened hours ago how long have you been at the hospital???

            **Keith Kogane** : I dunno?? As soon as I saw that it was Lance on the tv?

            **Shiro:** are you planning on spending the night?

            **Keith Kogane:** yeah, I think so. I don’t think im going to classes tomorrow, too

 **Shiro:** run home, grab some stuff. You don’t live far; Lance will still be in surgery when you get back

            **Keith Kogane:** but what if he’s not?? What if I miss him waking up and he’s here alone?

 **Hunk:** that’s not gonna happen. U gotta take care of yourself too, dude :/

 **Shiro:** go home. Shower. Grab a duffel bag. Not up for negotiation

 **Keith Kogane:** -.- “yes dad”

 

            Keith put his phone back into his pocket, pulling himself out of the chair as he did so. A shower didn’t sound too bad, actually. He folded the blanket and carried it over to the front desk.

            “I’m running home for a few. Call me if anything happens.” Keith handed the blanket to Ulaz and grabbed a sticky-note and a pen to jot his phone number on. Ulaz gave him a smile and a small wave on his way out. Keith waved back, quietly hoping that Lance would still be alive when he returned.  

 

 

 

 

 


End file.
